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As the great MLB Trading Deadline Game progressed, aces were showing as Johnny Cueto, David Price and Cole Hamels were on the table. But the Yankees looked at their hand, smiled and stood pat on the pitching front.

They ultimately kept their faith in their future anticipated ace, Luis Severino. Now here comes the phenom the Yankees have awaited.

“My staff and I all sat down numerous times this winter and again in spring training and mapped out this scenario, and he performed up to his capabilities. We felt he would pitch for us come August at some point and here we are,” general manager Brian Cashman said before the Yankees’ 13-3 blowout win over the Red Sox on Tuesday night. “Now it’s, ‘Let’s see what we got.’ ”

New York gets its chance to see what all the high-heat fuss is about as Severino, all 21 years and 166 days old of him, is scheduled to make his major league debut Wednesday at Yankee Stadium against the Red Sox.

“He’s an incredible talent. He’s got a great arm, has an idea of what he’s trying to do,” said catcher Brian McCann, who caught a Severino bullpen session in spring training. “And he has three plus pitches.”

“That look in his eye,” Rothschild said. “We know what the stuff is. And we think we know what the intangibles are but at this level we’ll see.”

At every other level, the 6-foot, 195-pound Severino, signed as a minor league free agent in 2012, has had it. With Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, Severino checked opponents to a .184 batting average. A mid-90s fastball will do that for you. But Severino is more than physical talent.

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Reliever Nick Rumbelow, who pitched with Severino in the minors, remembered a game last season with Single-A Charleston.

“There were a couple errors behind him,” Rumbelow said. “And the way he responded was ‘Just make the next pitch.’ That jumped out at me, his maturity level. Where other guys may have wavered off, he stayed focused and got the job done.

“Ultimate competitor. The guy’s got unbelievable stuff. He’s 21. You don’t see that when he pitches. You see a mature guy.”

You see maturity, you see the future.

Sort of why Cashman never seriously put Severino in the trade mix.

“I never felt close to securing anything that made sense despite questions obviously about whether the kids can do it,” Cashman said. “I don’t have any second-guessing.”

But he is 21. So before the Yankees start scheduling “Severino Day,” they would like him to settle in a bit. Innings limitations won’t be a problem (99¹/₃ innings in the minors). But New York, obviously, can be New York.

“You don’t try to put too much on him,” Rothschild said. “You just let him come up here and pitch and to a certain degree observe and try to walk him through things.”

Luis SeverinoCharles Wenzelberg

Rothschild said Severino is confident, not cocky. And he’s got that stuff and mental makeup, don’t forget.

Though the Yankees can’t know until they actually see, they have an idea of what’s coming. They just want Severino to do what he does.

“The thing I would tell him is he understands himself better than anyone else so go be yourself,” manager Joe Girardi said. “Don’t necessarily say, ‘Well, he’s a big league catcher and he’s been here for 11 years or whatever.’ If you’re not comfortable throwing that pitch, don’t throw that pitch. Just give us everything you got for as long as you can. We’ll take it.”

And so the next step starts Wednesday. Cashman spoke of the satisfaction of an “internal” solution.

“During the trade deadline, I was very honest from people in this room to my opponents about what we were willing to do,” Cashman said, “so we decided to go internal based on the opportunities that were presenting themselves. … The matches just weren’t there.”

Pitching in New York’s not easy. It’s definitely different. It’s easier for guys coming up through the system at times.

“We’re not adding any extra pressure,” said Cashman, who said Severino will stay in the rotation for the foreseeable future. “Listen, it’s his major league debut. He wants to do well. If I traded for one of these big-name starters coming in, they’d feel pressure too. Just plug in and play. We’ll see what we get.”